


Unresolved Issues

by writingtoreachyou



Category: Suits (TV)
Genre: Fights, M/M, Short Temper, Travis Tanner - Freeform, what is it about that man that gets to Harvey like that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 02:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12026379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingtoreachyou/pseuds/writingtoreachyou
Summary: Prompt 37 for Suits 100:Set in season 5: when Harvey hits Tanner, his old shoulder injury flares up again. Although worried, Mike is also pretty pissed off by Harvey’s lack of control• (Main) Pairing / Character Focus: Harvey/Mike





	Unresolved Issues

**Author's Note:**

> [Lawsonpines13](http://lawsonpines13.tumblr.com) was a wonderful beta for this one (even though I ended up rewriting many parts of this one because Mike and Harvey wouldn't behave the way I wanted them to in this fic... I hope it still works)

"Did Harvey get tired of banging you? - Or was he such a lousy lay that you left him for the guy down the road just like Harvey's mom did to dear old Dad?" Travis Tanner sneered in Harvey’s direction, knowing exactly, which buttons to push to make him explode. And Harvey did. Of course he did. It was no secret that he had a short temper and no patience and that he wouldn’t let anyone bully him. Stepping back from a fight just wasn’t the Harvey Specter way. 

Mike watched the scene in front of him unfold, his patience running thin. By now, he had witnessed way too many situations like this. A significant number involved a certain Travis Tanner, he noted gloomily. Therefore, when Harvey jumped at his opponent’s throat, Mike was far from surprised but incredibly pissed. Sometimes, Harvey just needed to be saved from himself. Tanner played his emotions like a fiddle — he always had. Harvey knew that. Mike knew that. Hell, everybody knew that! Why couldn’t his idiot of a friend just walk away before things escalated? Just this once! 

Mike grabbed Harvey by the shoulders and pushed him back, “Harvey! Harvey! Stop!”, held him in his place even though Harvey struggled against his grip, turned around and shouted at the grinning asshole right in front of him, “Tanner, get out of here now! Go!”

Goddamnit, Mike had known that this would happen. The moment Harvey had come into his office and offered him the Tanner case — “Just like old times” — he had had a feeling that things would go south very quickly. With Travis, they always did. Something about that man just got under Harvey’s skin. Every. Fucking. Time. Mike had never seen any other person who could anger Harvey the way Tanner did and if he was honest with himself, he hated it for more than one reason. Harvey’s passionate quarrels with that man made Mike furious. Anxious. Jealous. Yeah, he was jealous — no matter how ridiculous that was. 

A couple of weeks ago, he had walked into Harvey's office while he was having a panic attack. It pained Mike more than he let on that he hadn’t seen it coming, yet he didn’t ask the right questions (such as “When will you give yourself a break?” and “Why have you been avoiding me lately?”). 

Something was wrong. Harvey seemed restless, uneasy and stressed out. Being a very private person, he didn’t confide in other people. At least not very often — the few times that he had opened up to Mike over a joint or a drink, Mike had cherished the rare moment. Therefore, when Harvey had had the panic attack, Mike had simply been there, offered his unconditional support and made sure that nobody found out. Harvey would hopefully come to him one day. And Mike would be there to listen. 

There was an obvious reason why they hadn’t been close lately. Mike had tried to deny it but he wasn’t stupid. When he had left the firm to work for Sidwell, it had resulted in a serious blow to their friendship and they were still picking up the pieces. That was all his own doing but he couldn’t fight the feeling of regret whenever Harvey shut him out.

So when Harvey had stood in his office door the other day to offer him that case, banter about Mike’s new hairdo and _Sleepless in Seattle_ , Mike hadn’t lied about hoping that Harvey had missed him (of course he had put that differently). Because he had. He did. They used to be so close and even though Mike knew that Harvey would never return his feelings, he at least wished they could spend time together again. As colleagues. Friends. Anything. Therefore, Mike wanted nothing more than working on that case with him. It meant spending time in that office, on that couch, joking, fighting on the same side. 

Nevertheless, Mike had felt the need to warn Harvey. He cared about him and was worried that it would be too much too soon. A classic case of Specter Stubbornness. How could he bring that up without upsetting or annoying Harvey? Mike was considering the right approach when Harvey urged him.

“What?”

“I'm just gonna say it. Every time we go up against Tanner, it gets brutal.”

Oh, how Mike hated to be right sometimes! Here he was, witnissing a yelling match that ended with Harvey punching Tanner. So much for Harvey’s assurance that this case was exactly what he needed right now ( _“Hey Mike, let’s spend some time with Travis Tanner because he could be the one to end my panic attacks.”_ — that’s what it came down to, wasn’t it?). 

Why had Mike been too blind to notice? This entire! Stupid! Case! Harvey had acted like a pouting high school boy who wouldn’t accept any offer simply because it came from the jock that had rejected him on a school dance night. He was even willing to sacrifice Tanner’s client and send her to jail — simply because she had chosen the wrong attorney! Mike’s insides were burning at the mere idea. There was no justification to threaten the woman like that. However, Harvey was in attack mode and all Mike could do right now was trying to control the damage. 

When he turned around and dashed after Harvey, who took off not even bothering to wait for him, Mike felt his own blood boiling. Christ, couldn’t Harvey listen to him once? He should know that Mike only had his best interest at heart.

“Wait!” Mike turned him around, “Why do you always let him get to you like that?”

“You shouldn’t have stopped me,” Harvey pressed out through gritted teeth, his hands clenched into fists. 

“Yeah? And then what?” Mike challenged him, holding onto him tightly, noticing Harvey wincing briefly. 

“He needs to be put in his place.”

“Shouldn’t we rather do that in court? What the hell is wrong with you?” Mike tried to keep his voice down. He was still angry, but they were standing in the middle of the sidewalk and that was not the time or place to pick a fight with his boss 

“Tanner's a piece of shit that'll cross whatever line it takes to win,” Harvey tried to fight Mike’s hands off by pulling up his arms up but Mike didn’t loosen his grip until Harvey looked right back at him, his face contorted with pain, muttering “Fuck…”.

“Harvey?” Mike asked carefully now, frowning with worry. 

“It’s nothing, I think I pulled a muscle,” he was still fuming and Mike shook his head, “How old are you? Twelve? You really need to work on your anger management.” 

Harvey looked at him and raised his eyebrows, “Ditto.”

Mike grumbled “Idiot,” but couldn’t stop himself from smiling softly, his own anger slowly subsiding. He asked as calmly as he could, “You’re absolutely certain you want to go through with this? You know I’ll always have your back but I don’t think this is the right approach.”

“You’re not going to tell me what to do when it comes to Travis Tanner,” Harvey raised his voice again and Mike shook his head sighing, “What is it about that guy…?”

“Come on, you know him, he’s an asshole who doesn’t give a shit about cancer patients, he plays dirty and explores personal weaknesses to…” 

“Nothing but excuses… He thinks like you, remember? So are you as angry with yourself as you are with him?” He crossed his arms.

“You sound like my shrink,” Harvey retorted, immediately regretting it from the look on his face. Mike pulled him aside by his arm and asked quietly, “You see a shrink?”

“Oh, shut up,” Harvey replied embarrassed, rubbing his right shoulder. Never admitting weakness. Same old.

“You’re right, it’s none of my business,” Mike didn’t mean to sound as hurt as he did. He had no right to expect Harvey to let him in on these things. They were colleagues, friends but nothing more and situations like this one were a painful reminder of that. 

“Mike…” 

“No, no, it’s okay; I think you should have a doctor look at that,” he nodded towards his shoulder, “might be that old injury, right?”

“Might be. Look. I’m sorry. Yes, I do see someone because of my panic attacks. No big deal. How about this: You go back to the office, work on your billables, I’ll have this nuisance of a shoulder checked and we’ll watch a movie tonight?” Harvey looked at him with that disarming smile that made Mike’s knees go weak. How could he ever stay angry with that man? Such a hopeless case.

“Sleepless in Seattle?” Mike smirked and pointed at him, “I knew it, you missed me!” 

“Don’t tell anyone,” Harvey winked and left an incredulous Mike standing there. How on earth had Harvey managed to get him from rage to worry to excitement in the course of 10 minutes? Oh God, Mike needed to get a life! 

***

“Mike, what are you doing here?” Harvey joked as he opened the door and fucking hell, he looked gorgeous in that black Henley. Mike had trouble taking his eyes off of him. He waved the box of Chinese takeout in his hand, “I brought dinner — did you bring Meg Ryan?” 

“I wanted to but I fear something came up,” he placed his index fingers to his temples and pulled his skin back as if he was Asian.

“Was that for the Chinese food?” Mike asked perplexed and Harvey laughed, “No, I was trying to be funny and insinuate that she’s still at the plastic surgeon's.”

“Oh,” Mike joined in and entered his place, “Failed, you gotta work on that… So what’s the doctor’s verdict?”

“No boxing for six weeks minimum,” Harvey shrugged and winced a little at the movement, “and I guess no shrugging either.”

Mike frowned and busied himself in Harvey’s kitchen, setting up the dinner for the two of them, “That bad?”

“I guess.”

“Alright, if you need me to take care of anything, let me know. And no more arguing with Travis Tanner!” he turned around and looked at Harvey with a no nonsense expression. He was fed up with that fight and wanted it to end. It wasn’t just jealousy (though mostly, who was he kidding?) - He cared. Harvey was dealing with enough bullshit at the moment.

“Are you telling me how to live my life?” Harvey asked amused as he rubbed his shoulder through his shirt.

“Remember Trevor Evans? - I think Travis is your Trevor.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means…” Mike stressed the words and pushed Harvey’s bowl across the counter, “That he’s weighing you down. You don’t think straight as soon as he’s involved. Because you have this weird… dynamic going on. Just like I did with Trevor.”

“Trevor Evans ruined your life, Mike.” Harvey pointed out as he tried to deal with the chopsticks, realizing that he couldn’t even carry out such a basic task. He sighed and went to the cutlery drawer to pick up a spoon.

“Not the point.”

“Very much the point.”

Mike took two beers out of the fridge and opened them before taking a sip and contemplating if he should even bring this up. He watched Harvey eat his fried rice with his left hand and was momentarily distracted by how cute that looked. Then he threw all worries overboard, they were here now which meant that Harvey still considered him his friend. 

“I realized who the two of you remind me of earlier today: You’re acting like two high school sweethearts trying to impress one another because you’re scared one of you might find a better match for prom night.”

Harvey coughed and put his spoon down before he looked up, “Excuse me?” He drank some beer to stop the cough and shook his head, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re jealous of Tanner.”

Mike gnawed on his bottom lip cheekily and tried, “Not as jealous as you were of Trevor.”

“Jealous of Trevor? I can take that pothead down anytime…” Harvey scoffed and shook his head as he continued eating. Mike felt a pleasant warmth inside. God, this man was magnetic, every time he tried to move away from him, he was drawn right back. There was nothing he could do. 

“So it’s all about winning?”

Harvey looked up and rested his hands on the counter, musing over the question. 

“Is it?” Mike challenged him. What the hell was happening here? This morning he had been so sure that they could never be anything more than friends but the moment Harvey had opened the door, he had seemed like such a changed person. Was he high on something? Did the doctor prescribe some kind of painkiller that messed with his brain? 

“You know. After I went to see the doctor, I set up an appointment with my shrink. We talked about what happened earlier. The fight.”

Harvey paused and Mike took another swig before he shook his bottle to encourage him to continue talking, “Go on.”

“She said that my fight with Tanner is a representation of unresolved issues.”

“No shit,” Mike replied and raised his eyebrows, “I could have told you that.”

“Well, what if I told you that I have a pretty good idea what my unresolved issues are?” Harvey tried. He looked insecure now, his head cocked to one side and a careful smile playing on his lips. Mike hardly noticed that he held his breath as he nodded, “Then I’d say you’re a tease if you’re not telling me about them…”

“Oh, you like it when I tease you…” Harvey smiled and licked his lips before he took the bowl in his left hand, the bottle in his right and turned around, making his way to the couch. He hadn’t really taken into account that his shoulder was giving him hell as he did so, which made the whole motion a lot less suave than he had intended to. Harvey put food and drink down on the couch table and waited for Mike to join him. 

“Old man,” Mike teased him right back and sat down next to him, pushed Harvey’s left hand away from his right shoulder and started to massage him gently, asking softly “Like this?”

Harvey nodded thankfully and smiled at him, “This was not how I had planned…”

“Planned what…” Mike prompted him. He tried to appear calm and not let on how hard his heart was beating against his chest. He felt hot and cold and hoped Harvey wouldn’t notice how much his hand was trembling right now. 

“...to confess that you’re my unresolved issue, I guess?” Harvey turned a little to face him properly, looking very young right now.

“You want to hit me? Be my guest!” Mike chuckled softly, overplaying his own insecurities and hopes while his thumb circled gently along Harvey’s injured shoulder. 

“No, rather hit _on_ you,” Harvey opened his eyes wider, showing Mike his vulnerable, true self and rendering him speechless. He stopped moving and just stared at Harvey. Wow. Was this really happening? Harvey hit Tanner to hide his true feelings for Mike? What? When? How? Wh...at?

When Mike still didn’t reply, Harvey continued explaining, “He kept saying I wanted to sleep with Donna. That’s just… wrong.”

Mike chuckled softly now, waking from his stare, “So you didn’t hit him because he insulted Donna, you did because you felt that his insinuations insulted me?”

“Sort of,” Harvey shrugged and pulled a face again.

“Don’t move that shoulder, Harvey,” Mike couldn’t stop himself from beaming as he started to caress him again, “You want to be able to use it again in six weeks. How am I to have sex with you when you can hardly move?”

“Have sex…”

“...with you? Yeah, that’s what two people do when they are into each other, you know? I hate to break it to you but the birds and the bees — just stories…” Mike’s grin widened as he climbed on top of Harvey very carefully and massaged both shoulders now. 

Harvey hummed contently, “Two questions: a) Where did you learn that? And b) Why don’t you kiss me already?”

“Two answers, a) I’m a natural. And b) After you’ve promised me you’ll sign that original deal. Cause it’s a good one and you know it.” 

Mike looked into Harvey’s eyes, worried that his suggestion would tick him off again. But they finally needed to put this to rest. He didn’t want to compete with Travis Tanner - and if Mike could cut Trevor loose, then he could expect of Harvey to do the same with Tanner.

“Blackmail…” Harvey tilted his head but couldn’t hide a smile. 

“Yup,” Mike grinned, “But I’m serious about this. I want him gone.”

“You really _are_ jealous,” Harvey pointed out the obvious.

“I’m possessive.”

“I like that,” Harvey grinned and pulled Mike closer with his good hand in the small of his back. 

“So, deal?”

“Deal.” 

“Good. Your honor, we have come to an extrajudicial agreement,” Mike replied cheekily and leaned in to brush his lips over Harvey’s carefully before he dared to deepen the kiss. Then he whispered against Harvey’s ear, “If you let me nurse you, we might be able to cut those six weeks short…”

Harvey smiled at him happily and replied, “Nurse, I already feel a lot better.”


End file.
